Zuckerberg Reportedly Orders Employees To Only Use Android Phones After Tim Cook Went After Facebook

by Gavin Hanson

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg reportedly directed his managing staff to use only Android phones, according to The New York Times.

This order came after Apple CEO Tim Cook took aim at Facebook’s advertising-based business model, although Facebook denies it was a direct result of his comments.

Tim Cook publicly denounced Facebook’s advertising centered profit model and public security concerns during an interview with Vice News in October that took place after Facebook’s Sept. 28 announcement that the largest breach in its history had occurred, exposing the private data of 50 million users.

“The narrative that some companies will try to get you to believe is, ‘I’ve got to take all of your data to make my service better.’ Well, don’t believe that. Whoever’s telling you that — it’s a bunch of bunk,” Cook told Vice.

The report from The Times mentions that Zuckerberg became “infuriated” after Cook’s comments.

“We’re not going to traffic in your personal life,” Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, said in an MSNBC interview. “Privacy to us is a human right. It’s a civil liberty.” (Mr. Cook’s criticisms infuriated Mr. Zuckerberg, who later ordered his management team to use only Android phones — arguing that the operating system had far more users than Apple’s.)

Apple avoids data collection in general due to a respect for user privacy, Cook said.

“We’re not in the business of building the detailed profile of you. The way we go into product design, we challenge ourselves to collect as little as possible. And when we have it, we challenge ourselves to encrypt it in the end,” Cook said. “I see privacy as central to liberty. I don’t want to see it slip away. Because it’s like a part of us slipping away. I mean when I say ‘us,’ I don’t mean us Apple; I mean us as Americans.”

Facebook addressed what it called “a number of inaccuracies” in The Times’ story in a blog post Thursday.

“We’ve long encouraged our employees and executives to use Android because it is the most popular operating system in the world,” the post said.

Facebook also addressed Cook directly.

“Tim Cook has consistently criticized our business model and Mark has been equally clear he disagrees.”

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